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Star Trek 's Lt. Uhura was a science-fiction pioneer in the 1970s -- a black woman answering the phone, I mean computer , in space. Uhura, played by actress Nichelle Nichols, was the communications officer, a role that would go on to be a popular one for futuristic minorities. While she was groundbreaking in that she was a black woman who survived quite well in space, her story lines were few, her adventures were stunted, and her romances were nonexistent. The philandering Capt. Kirk had to be forced to kiss the comely Uhura -- apparently in the future, interracial lip-lock is just as controversial as it was in the 1970s. Nichols paved the way for Kandyse McClure's character Petty Officer Dualla, a black woman who also starts out answering the phone, on the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica series remake that wrapped this year. Dualla fares better than Uhura in that she gets her own story line, experiences a real romance, and has some adventures. But she commits suicide in the...